Speed humps installed on Polson St, Whanganui to improve safety for Castlecliff School pupils

Two speed humps have been installed to slow traffic near Castlecliff School. Photo/ Lewis Gardner

Calls for traffic safety measures around Castlecliff School have been answered with two speed humps installed on Polson St near the existing crossing.

The crossing is manned by students with fold out stop signs and a supervising teacher at times when students are arriving at school and when they're leaving.

Whanganui District Council senior roading engineer Brent Holmes said the speed humps are part of a suite of measures to slow down traffic around the school.

"The first response was to increase warning signage and a temporary speed limit of 40km per hour during school hours was put in place last year," he said.

"In recent weeks, following further near-misses and traffic counts showing disregard for the warning signage, the council was asked to do more.

"A safety audit was completed and speed humps were installed, in consultation with the school, as a physical means to calm the traffic."

Castlecliff School Board chairman Jeff Slight said it's a great outcome for the safety of students.

"We have been trying to get something sorted for several years and this came to a head after a crash that resulted in the death of a driver outside our school last year.

"The outcome was to have speed humps either side of the crossing."

Thirteen-year-old Keanu Josephs-Ranginui died in June 2018, when a fleeing vehicle he was a passenger in crashed into a tree near the school.

Following the crash Polson St residents Robin and Frances Abbott called for more safety measures to be put in place on the street.

At the time they suggested measure needed to be put in place to slow the traffic.

"It's a race track, the speed they travel down here, if they went through your fence, which they would like match wood, they would actually hit your house," Robin said.

"The school being so close is just diabolical. If kids try and cross the road here, I've seen them, they're putting their lives at risk."